The account of his conversion to Islam, and the signs of prophethood he had heard about the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh : And this is what Salman was striving for, and Allah made it easy for him without him having to think about it, but through the path of enslavement and servitude. Then he began to wait for the right opportunity so that he could visit the Messenger (peace be upon him) and get to know him. He had with him, from what the Christian scholars he had contacted had told him, some of the signs of this messenger in the last of times, among which was that there is a seal of prophethood between his shoulders, and that he accepts gifts but does not eat charity. When Salman heard this news, he prepared to go to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So he went, and with him were some dates. When he saw the Messenger (peace be upon him), it was placed in his heart that he was the Prophet (peace be upon him). So he presented the dates to him and said to him, "This is charity." The Messenger (peace be upon him) distributed them among some of those around him. Salman kept this to himself and said, "This is the first one," meaning the first sign that it was he, Muhammad (peace be upon him). And he heard him admonishing the people, telling them to stand in prayer at night while the people are sleeping, like these exhortations that indicate that it is the call of the Messenger (peace be upon him), a righteous call. So he returned to his master to work until he had some dates available. Then he came back to him again and said to the Prophet (peace be upon him), "This is a gift." So the Prophet (peace be upon him) took some of it, ate, and distributed it among those around him. Salman said, "This is the second one." Then Salman stood up, unable to control himself, and came behind the Messenger (peace be upon him). The Messenger sensed what he wanted, so he did this with the garment, revealing the seal to him. Salman saw it and said, "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." He embraced Islam from that day. The end of the story. The lesson in this strange incident is that Salman’s master had entered into a contract of manumission with him. The meaning of this contract in the language of Islam is that a master has a slave, and this slave agrees with his master to free himself from his master’s bondage by paying a sum of money to his master. They agree on this, and he pays this money over a period, long or short. When he pays the last of it and hands it over to the master, the master is obligated to free him from his servitude. So Salman had entered into a contract of manumission with his master for a specific sum to give to the master to free his neck from him. He came to the Messenger (peace be upon him) and mentioned the matter of the contract of manumission to him. The Messenger (peace be upon him) helped him and freed him from slavery. Then the Messenger (peace be upon him) made use of him to plant palm trees from the *fasil*. *Fasil* is the specific seedling for palm trees. Seedlings are known to be raised in certain lands and then transferred to the land where they are to be planted permanently. So Salman took as much of this *fasil* as he wished and planted it. The Messenger (peace be upon him) had helped him plant a portion of this *fasil*. So this *fasil*, meaning the seedling that the Messenger (peace be upon him) planted with his own hand, bore fruit twice a year by the blessing of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his planting of it. This is Salman, whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) raised in status through Islam and freed from slavery. After that, by the grace of Islam, he became a master, and he had a servant. And he remained treating him with the same courtesy we mentioned, so as not to have a bad opinion of his servant. He would count the bones he handed over to be moved or sold, so as to protect himself from having a bad opinion of his servant. This is the grace of Islam in guiding masters and teaching them how to treat their servants or slaves.